I will be adding pictures and more detailed instructions to this over the next few days, but I wanted to post a quick and dirty run through as a placeholder:

WARNING: it is [I]recommended[I]that you rebuild your transmission after a faliure to ensure everything is clean and there are no bits of metal floating around that could shorten the life of your transmission! Some of us do not have $2k+ laying around, so here is an inexpensive way to get the car back on the road without having to do a full rebuild.

Remove the transmission from the engine:
1. Drain Coolant into a suitable container for reuse
2. Remove coolant reservoir (buy a tool for spring clamp removal- you will thank me later) plug the coolant hose that goes in under the reservoir
3. Remove intake pipe (flatheat screwdriver for the airbox side, 2x10mm for the throttle body side)
4. Unplug 4 O2 sensor plugs (one black for each side, one grey for each side)
5. Unplug transmission connector (black plug, about 3 inches wide)
6. Remove 8 nuts holding Catalytic converter to exhaust manifold (13mm deep with a wobble adapter/universal and extensions. You WILL break some. Be VERY careful not to put pressure on the cam covers....they can and will crack/break
6a. You may find heat sheilds under the coolant reservoir- they come off with a 10mm and are (as near as I can figure) a puzzle created by evil geniuses
7. Jack car up off the ground completely (4 points of contact at all times!!)
8. Think about a nice cold beer and how good it will taste 4 hours from now.
9. Roll under the car and remove rubber plug revealing the windows into the bellhousing
10. Remove the three torque converter bolts (15mm regular socket) by rotating (clockwise!) the engine until they appear and push TC toward rear
11. Remove catalytic converter brackets (13 or 14 mm)
12. Loosen catalytic converter to center muffler pipe clamps (15mm deep socket)
13. loosen center muffler to rear muffler clamps (2) (15mm deep socket)
14. Remove catalytic converters one at a time (wiggle and twist works a treat)
15. Remove center muffler and set out of the way
16. Remove all bellhousing bolts (13mm, sock and/or ratcheting box end wrench) except two (on the side?) to hold it in place while you undo the next few bits. Emplloy a ridiculous number/combination of extensions/wobble.universal joint if need be
17. Place a jack under the transmission to support it, you will use this same jack to pull the tranmission back and lower it.
18. Remove the center bolt in the transmission crossmember (10mm I believe)
19. Mark the location of the corssmember in relation to the body so you can put it back exactly as it was
20. Remove the 4 bolts (13mm)holding the transmission crossmember in place and place it out f the way
21. Remove the 3 bolts (19mm) holding the transmission yoke to the driveshaft coupling. push driveshaft back towards the rear and out of the way as much as possible I HAVE used an impact to loosen them, not recommended for putting them back on
22. Remove transmission fluid coolant lines on both sides and plug the pipes/holes. There WILL be some leakage- use finger to plug while working on them
23. Remove two bolts (8mm) holding shift cable in place
24. Remove nut holding shift cable arm to shifter shaft
25. Remove electrical connector from drivers side of transmission (there is a tab you twist counter-clockwise and it ulocks/pushes back the connector for removal
26. Remove the remaining bellhousing bolts (13mm) and push the wire and tans cooling pipe brackets out of the way
27. Think about the second or third cold pint you will enjoy in three hours.
28. BE CAREFUL HERE- pull transmission back slowly, then lower down S-L-O-W-L-Y Did I mention lowering it slowly? good.
29. If the car is high enough you are all set- slide the jack out with the transmission. If NOT, figure out how to slide it off the jack without damage and slide it out. (I used plywood and some careful lowering techniques) Be careful not to let the torque converter slide out!
30. Think of the 5th ice cold beer 2 hours from now.

Installation is the reverse of removal- IF I HAVE MISSED ANYTHING PLEASE PM ME and I will correct.




Stand transmission upright (figure out how to keep it upright- 50 gallon drum, sturdy surface etc.)
Download 5hp24 parts guide to refer to when reassmbling, or better yet TAKE PICTURES

Parts needed:
A-drum assembly
Torque converter seal
(optional) pump o-ring
(optional) rebuilt torque converter

1. Remove torque converter (I would replace the seal, it's right there) I have done it ONCE without replacing the seal and it worked YMMV
2. Remove the brown bolts,(17mm regular with an extension) leaving the blonde bolts in place
3. Tap the bellhousing to break it free and pull it up and off


4. pull the shaft that is sticking out straight up and out. The A-drum is in this grouping.


After removing bellhousing and A-drum assembly
5. Remove the large circlip holding drums together and remove the A-drum assembly from the mix.
6. inspect ALL o-rings (and look for place where o-rings SHOULD be but aren't
7. Remove circlip holding clutch plates in the A-drum
8. remove clutch plates and inspect- KEEP THEM IN ORDER
9. Here is a picture showing still good plates with the grooves intact and worn out plates- if they are worn, REPLACE





The dark brown disk is TOAST. I replaced with a good set.
10. Remove thick smallish circlip holding clutch piston plate and clutch piston in place in A-drum
11. Remove clutch piston from A-drum (should come out with a couple taps)
12. Inspect o-rings, reaplce if necessary
13. Inspect clutch piston see mine had damage:




This crack went all the way through and to the right

14. The trans that was damaged only had one of these, the BMW trans had TWO:





Not sure if BMW uses two and Jaguar one, or if prior rebuilder forgot one...

Thnk about that cold pint you will get to have 4 hours from now. Wait, what is that you say? I mentioned 4 hours an hour ago? That is in case you are taking your time.

Assembly is the reverse of removal- be warned.. you might need to use a special tool to compress the A-drum clutch pack in order to get the circlip on, I had some help and was able to get it done with some 'persuasion'

The clutch plates MUST be lined up evenly in order to slide each drum into place, and to slide the assembly back into the transmission. Take your time on this, it may take you a LOOONG time/many tries to get it right. (one time took me 30 seconds, the last one took me 2 hours.) The bellhousing will stop short of mating the transmission body if you don't have it right- if so, pull it out, straighten the clutch plates and do it over. DO NOT FORCE IT.

Lubricate the lip of the TC seal and the outside of the TC shaft, and slide the TC home slowly. Turn it a few rotations and make sure it goes "home" all the way in. You should barely be able to get your fingers under it when it is all the way in.

Put her back in and take ti for a drive. If all is well you will have no codes, it will shift wonderfully and you can slap yourself on the back and have a cold one, two, three....

 

Can you imagine if every repair on our Jags was presented in this kind of detail?

I will face this repair one day on my mother's 2003 4.2 S Type, but feel like it's possible instead of completely hopeless, after reading (and saving) this fantastic presentation.

Thank you so much for detailing and posting this repair.

 

My advise is to remove/replace drums with the gearbox VERTICAL so that gravity does not interfere with the frictions/steels.

I have a barrel that I sit the tail of the trans into and remove the bell housing/pump.

Things tend to remain aligned when the gearbox is more vertical.

Just my findings after replacing several drums.

bob gauff

 

Motorcarman is absolutely correct- I did a BMW while it was on the pan- never again.

 

Man, I wish this was up a couple weeks ago! I would have yanked the transmission from the XJ8 I parted to rebuild just for the experience. Bah! Maybe another one will fall into my lap.

 

Dan,
In the Jag service bulletin for transmission removal/installation they call for engine lifting brackets and a support bar, to hold the motor in place. I did not see this mentioned in your write up, not required / support with floor jack ?

 

An engine support bracket is not necessary to remove the transmission. It'll lean forward a little bit though.

 

I did have to leverage (tilt) the engine rearward in order to line up the transmission to drive it home, as it was leaning forward as Addicted mentioned.

 

Grateful this got bumped, as it is an A-drum DIY that I had missed. Still need to do mine. VDP has been up on jackstands nearly 2 years now. Between hobbies and working to finance hobbies, not a whole lot of time left over.

People have suggested I sell it, but it's paid for and it's my first Jag.

-Mike

 

Mike- I have an A-drum (original, not the reinforced) that you can have for $20+shipping- If you are doing it on the cheap, that would only leave you potentially a couple of o-rings and you would be good to go.

 

That is a kind offer, thank you. I haven't disassembled mine yet, hoping to sometime this spring.

My transmission has not failed. I pulled it because of a rear main seal leak and I'm loath to put it back in w/o doing the $250 or so in updates. I don't recall the mileage, but it's somewhere near 130K and this is the original transmission. I can't believe how heavy that thing is.

I need to either source an appropriate barrel or fashion a stand to I can stand it up on the tail shaft. Well, that's after I get the race car out of the way, and fix the kitchen cabinets, regrout the tub, and ... wait, what were we talking about again?

-Mike